Cill Dara Shinn Féin Poblachtach

The actions of the RUC/PSNII in arresting and
charging Diarmuid Mac Dubhghlais a National Treasurer of Republican Sinn Féin
for speaking Irish, serves as a reminder that the nature of British Rule in
Ireland has not changed. He is charged simply with insisting on his right to
converse in the Irish language, reinforcing the point that within the Six-County
state it remains a crime to speak Irish. So much for the Strormont Agreement’s
commitment to: “full respect for, and equality of, civil, political, social and
cultural rights, of freedom from discrimination for all citizens. and of parity
of esteem and of just and equal treatment for the identity, ethos and
aspirations of both communities.” Such actions expose this for the empty
rhetoric that it is. The Six-County state is an abnormal and undemocratic entity
whose relationship with the nationalist people is that of a coloniser.
Consequently the very markers of a distinct Irish identity such as out language
are regarded as a threat to the Six-County state.

Despite promises to introduce an Irish Language Act
for the Six Counties nothing has been delivered and that was always the
intention of the British Government. Former British Six-County Direct Ruler
Peter Hain let ‘the cat out of the bag’ regarding the British government’s real
attitude to the Irish language. The newspaper Gaelscéal in 2012 reported Hain as
admitting that the promise of an Irish Language Act for the Six Counties was off
set by moving its ratification from Westminster to Stormont where, Hain
proclaimed there would be an “inbuilt majority” against it. The attempted
criminalisation of Irish speakers is only what is expected of a colonial state
whose intention is the eradication of any vestiges of Irish nationality, culture
or history. We call on Irish language organisations, civil liberties bodies and
activists to speak out against this assault on the right of Irish people to
speak their native language in their own country. This should be recognised for
what it is and no amount of sophistry or spin by the Stormont regime and its
apologists should be allowed to obscure the truth about what is happening here.
It is simply the suppression of the most basic civil and human rights, the right
to a distinct cultural and national identity. As we are reminded by Pádraig Mac
Piarais. “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam.”